We are working in developing strategic infrastructure in Bihar such as the Gati Shakti railway terminal, ICDs and industrial warehousing parks: Pranab Adani

Pranab Adani said at Bihar Business Connect 2024, It is an honour to be speaking here, in Patna, at the 2024 Bihar Business Connect  investor summit. Let me congratulate the Government of Bihar for bringing together so many influential  names from every sector of the economy. Hon’ble Chief Minister, this gathering is  evidence not only of your personal magnetism but also of the business world’s  confidence that you and your administration are transforming Bihar into one of India’s  most attractive investment destinations.  

Nitish-ji, your vision and foresight are unmatched! Over 22 years ago, as our nation’s  Minister for Railways, you introduced its greatest change ever – the ticket booking  system using automated software. On the first day, it had only 29 bookings – and now  up to 13 lakh tickets are booked in a single day, making it the world’s busiest online  reservation platform!  

Under your leadership, Bihar is being transformed, particularly in governance, ease of  doing business, access to healthcare, social reform, law and order, literacy and  education, empowerment of women and the underprivileged – and, with special  relevance to the context of this event, the rapid development of critical infrastructure.  Your vision has become a model of beneficial growth for the rest of the nation.  

I am privileged to tell you that the Adani Group is greatly encouraged by your vision  for Bihar – and there can be no better validation of our belief in your leadership than  the humble fact that we are the largest private investor in Bihar.  

At last year’s Bihar Business Connect, I had promised you that I would keep coming  back to you with updates on what we are doing in Bihar – and let me give you a  snapshot of our current and future investment roadmap for Bihar.

 In three sectors, logistics, gas distribution and agri-logistics, we have already invested  around INR 850 crore and have also created around 25,000 direct and indirect  employment opportunities.  

We are now going to invest another INR 2,300 crore in these sectors. This investment  will not only massively increase our warehousing and handling capacity and expand  our presence in the EV, CGD and CBG space but will also generate an additional  27,000 direct and indirect local job opportunities.

We are also working closely with your government to potentially invest another INR  1,000 crore in developing strategic infrastructure in Bihar, like Gati Shakti Railway  Terminals, ICDs (Inland Container Depots) and Industrial Warehousing Parks. 

Another sector we are investing in is smart meter manufacturing. As Bihar migrates  from conventional electric meters to smart meters, we will invest INR 2,100 crore to  manufacture and install over 28 lakh smart meters to automate power-consumption monitoring in five cities – Siwan, Gopalganj, Vaishali, Saran and Samastipur – and  this will generate at least 4,000 local jobs in this technology segment.  There is more!  

Five months ago, at the end of July, we also entered another exciting new space in  Bihar when you personally came and laid the foundations for our first greenfield  cement project since our acquisition of ACC and Ambuja Cements two years ago.  

That new project is in Warisaliganj. It is a cement grinding unit – and we have more  on the way. We intend to invest INR 2,500 crore in Bihar to set up a cement  manufacturing capacity of 10 MMTPA in multiple phases – and this has the potential  to create at least 9,000 direct and indirect jobs for the people of Bihar.  

We are also exploring investment avenues in Bihar’s energy sector. Our plan is to  invest around INR 20,000 crore to set up an ultra-supercritical thermal power plant.  We expect such a massive project to open up at least 12,000 job vacancies in the pre commissioning phase – and also lead to around 1,500 skilled jobs during the  operational phase.  

Hon’ble Chief Minister, your relentless focus on improving the business landscape in  Bihar, and the incredible support always available from your team of highly efficient  and motivated officers, are paving the way for an investment boom in the years ahead.  

On behalf of the Adani Group, let me thank you for your constant support, guidance  and encouragement – and also for the opportunity to do more in Bihar – with Bihar – for Bihar.